Broadband News

Contractors not paid on £30 million Welsh fibre backbone project

Tales of firms not paying their bills or stretching payment terms will be of no surprise for anyone who does contract work, unfortunately with the tightening of credit the days of using an
overdraft to keep staff paid are over.

The FibreSpeed project in Wales is a £30 million scheme to link a number of business
parks in North Wales and provide the backbone to help reduce the costs for other next generation broadband projects in the area. The Wales Politics section of BBC News Online reports contractors working on the scheme are claiming they
have not been paid for work involved with the scheme, sums of £17,000, £30,000 and £250,000 are mentioned. The BBC article names United Formwork as the firm the contractors are owed money by.

Geo the main firm behind the scheme are investigating along with its main contractor North Midlands Construction. There is a real chance that the project may be delayed as new companies are found
to finish the work.